"What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones,
The labor of an age in pilèd stones,
Or that his hallowed relics should be hid
Under a star-pointing pyramid?"
: On Shakespeare, (John Milton).
No doubt that all the pomp and grandeur of kings and nobles, feudal lords and chieftains get lost into dust by the course of time or ups and downs of history and only the ‘intangible heritage’ like a poet’s poems, a painter’s painting or a scientist’s inventions remain. But that does not mean that we will neglect the conservation of our ‘tangible heritage’ sites encompassing ‘physical artifacts such as artistic creations, historic buildings, monuments, archaeological sites, and other material objects produced by human creativity,’ as defined by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Such tangible heritage sites need to be conserved and protected intergenerationally as metaphors of cultural magnitude. Tangible heritage sites too are the cumulative result of different sorts of ‘intangible heritage’ like imagination of the architects, royal orders to install a monument and labor of the millions of workers, etc. Great archaeological heritage sites like ‘Temple of Apollo Patroos’ in Athens, Egyptian pyramids, ‘Great Wall’ of China, ‘Konark Sun Temple’ of India, ‘Machu Picchu’ Inca citadel in Peru, Persepolis city of Iran or Paharpur Buddhist Monastery of Bangladesh are a handful of examples of ‘intangible heritage’ of the human civilization which we need to protect with sheer respect and care.
Bangladesh, despite having legal framework including ‘The Laws of Archaeology 1964 (amended in 1976) or the Antiquities Act, 1968 (previously the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904), cannot claim herself to be careful enough to conserve and protect her numerous archaeological or heritage sites, as revealed through a sudden visit to ‘Ruplal House,’ one of the three major heritage sites of Old Dhaka on last Friday morning.
From Aratoon House via Ruplal House to Jamal House: A Chronological History of the Mansion
Now, why did I start this article with quotes from John Milton’s poem on ‘Shakespeare?’ Actually, last Friday morning, I paid my first visit to the ‘Ruplal House’ despite living in Dhaka since 1987. It was to accompany my elder niece Alaka, a US resident, on her brief travel days to her home. While asking almost each and every pedestrian of the old Dhaka from Bahadur Shah Park (where the great Sipahis of first Indian Mutiny of 1857, also known as the Indian Rebellion or First War of Independence were executed by the British imperialists) to the ‘Buckland Bund’ (built by the then British Commissioner C.T. Buckland in 1864 along the bank of the Buriganga), nobody seemed to even hear the name of ‘Ruplal House.’ But as we earlier browsed on net that the mansion is located in Farashganj of old Dhaka and near the Buckland bund, so when some locals asked that if we wish to visit the ‘Lalkuthi,’ we nodded ‘yes’ completely on assumption and finally we found a large mansion within piles of dirt from drains and dustbins and illegally encroached by a number of local spice and vegetable traders and unlicensed grabbers. Honestly speaking, the building looks still grand, still regal because of its impeccable architectural beauty, but utter negligence and lack of care seem too harsh to absorb!
According to the historical accounts, ‘Ruplal House’ was earlier known as ‘Aratoon House.’ Originally it was erected on the northern bank of the Buriganga in 1825 by Stephen Aratoon, an Armenian merchant. But later it was purchased by two businessmen brothers named Ruplal Das and Raghunath Das in 1840. The brothers ordered Martin Company, Calcutta, to redesign and rebuild it.
Ruplal House got its limelight for the first time in 1886 when Ruplal Das organized a ball dance party to honor the Viceroy of India Lord Dufferin. However, soon after the partition of India in 1947, Ruplal Das and his family had to migrate to India. Mr. Siddick Jamall purchased this mansion in 1962 from the Das family via an official deed of exchange in 1962 and the mansion started being known as "Jamall House.’’
Mr. Siddique Jamall and his family, however, left for India and the West by 1976 and the entire family branched out to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and the Gulf. A part of the 1st Floor of Jamall House block was used as Prince Karim Ago Khan Preparatory School from 1958. In 1973, the house was changed to a college, but that too worked for just 16 days. Then it was used as the residence for the families of JCO and NCO army officers.
One part of the former ‘Ruplal House’ belonging to Ruplal’s brother Roghunath (known as ‘Roghunath block’) now is within the auspices of private ownership since 1948. Currently, the historical mansion is extensively occupied by numerous spice and vegetable traders and a number of illegal usurpers who have constructed shack huts around the building. The east block is possessed and used by a private owner as a residence on the first floor and as a storeroom on the ground floor.
Though earlier I had read lots of newspaper reports on this sad state of the mansion, witnessing this horrific condition with my own eyes was even beyond my imagination!
No doubt that anyone will feel sad seeing the wreck condition of such a historical mansion and can’t resist pondering over the lines of John Milton on Shakespeare! From Aratoon to Ruplal and Ruplal to Jamill…how pomp and grandeur change or even get lost within the passage of time!
Still, why is the mansion known as ‘Ruplal House’ and why do we need to protect it?
Though the mansion was originally constructed by Armenian trader Aratoon and last purchased by Mr. Jamall, the house is most celebrated in the name of Ruplal Das, probably because of the redesigning and reconstruction of the building by Mr. Das.
Historical records still narrate this site as ‘Ruplal House’ because of the complete redesigning and reconstructing of the mansion by the Das brothers. The new design replicated the Greek Doric column, and a huge clock at the top of the building was inserted.
The mansion was divided into two unequal blocks as a two-storeyed edifice. Because of a huge riverfront view of the Buriganga (9144 m long), the mansion was really eye-catching once upon a time. The mansion’s ground plan adheres to the shape of the English letter ‘E’ and encompasses a great portico on a series of lofty semi-Corinthian columns, echoing the characteristics of the Renaissance or Enlightenment period architecture.
The two blocks housed, on two floors, more than 50 rooms of various sizes, and of those, the central hall on the upper floor was a posh ballroom with a wooden floor.
According to the old Dhaka chronicles, Ruplal Das was a feudal lord cum businessman. Also, he was the first educated person in his family, standing first in the then Praveshika Exam (today’s S.S.C.) and having a scholarship of ten taka of that era. A great connoisseur of music, he was famous for organizing a number of cultural functions of that time. Mr. Das used to host musical soirees with renowned Indian classical musicians like Ustad Alauddin Khan, Wall Ullah Khan or Lakshmi Devi on a regular basis. On the arrival of Lord Dufrin in Dhaka in 1888, Ruplal House won a competition over the Ahsan Manzil by vote of the aristocrats of Dhaka, which bestowed political significance to the mansion. It is to showcase their social prestige that 45000 taka were spent for ornamenting the mansion by the Das brothers.
After an earthquake in 1897, the watchtower of the mansion collapsed, and the family had to shift their residence to another area of the city, and this large house remained forsaken for 50 years. There had been a garden on the eastern portion of the mansion entitled ‘Roghubabur Bagan,’ and also there was a pool entitled ‘Shayambabur Pool.’
However, the garden soon began to lose its beauty as the Das family abandoned the house after the earthquake, and a market began functioning beside the pool, which is known as ‘Shyam Bazar’ today.
The nearby Buckland bund area was formerly known as a posh, residential area of the high-class European officers and traders. But the residential character as well as quality of the riverfront largely declined by 1930 and soon it turned out to be a wholesale market area of spices and vegetables.
What is the Department of Archaeology (DoA) doing?
Although the Department of Archaeology is officially assigned to conserve and protect around 538 heritage sites of Bangladesh, does DoA carry out its duty? We observed a number of archaeological sites in each lane and by-lane of old Dhaka, including the Ruplal house on our brief visit on Friday morning. Old churches, temples, mosques, and Sufi shrines- old Dhaka is a living museum, but getting decayed and degenerated in our criminal negligence!
Any other nation of the world could channelize such beautiful monuments and historical sites into a highly attractive tourist city to earn millions of dollars! But we derive pleasure in becoming pathetic losers!
*Author: Audity Falguni is an author and a freelance journalist. She can be reached at [email protected]. Views expressed in this article are the author's own.*
